


What A Life This Is...

by ugh_sigh (orphan_account)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Hetalia Axis Powers - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Other, aph, aph canada - Freeform, aph prussia - Freeform, aph romano - Freeform, aph spain - Freeform, prucan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-25 19:14:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4973017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ugh_sigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matthew is a young seven-teen year old bout that moves to Germany at his parent's command. He meets a certain someone and sparks a relationship. I wrote the outline of this while listening to Married Life from the Up soundtrack, so there's a hint as to what might happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

        "Ah, S-sorry. Um, I mean,  _Entschuldigen Sie,_ " Matthew said as he bumped into a nearby pedestrian, his accent mortified and a few vowels incorrectly said.  
        He was only halfway to his new apartment. Oh why did he decide to move here. Sure, his dad told him it could be a good experience, but for what? His father had him learn french since he was a kid, so why send him to Germany? He was perfectly fine with their little house in Canada.  
        Matthew sighed and moved on to his new home. A seven-teen year old boy, living in a new country with complete strangers, and not knowing the language. Great. He could tell this was going to be a fun journey. Although he had a few doubts, he was trying to stay at lease a little optimistic. He cursed himself for not being constantly cheerful like his brother. Of course he was annoyed at his father, but what can he do now? He was basically all the way across the world. Four thousand and thirty-five miles away. Fantastic.  
        As Matthew continued walking he remembered the fact that he wasn't going to be living alone. That lifted some weight off his shoulders, but it still didn't help all too much. Francis, his father, said that his room-mate was a friend of his. That made things worse. Now he's going to be rooming with someone in his late twenties or early thirties. That didn't excite the Canadian much. To be completely honest, one thing he's enjoyed about this trip so far was that he was now independent. But the grim reminder of an adult rooming with his sent him all the way back down to childhood. For all he knows, maybe this friend of his fathers wont care what he is up to. But this trip wasn't just a few days of freedom. It was a few years.  
        He tried to brush off that this was going to be a long visit and began up the stairs to his new room. Admittedly, he was a bit nervous. Inside he felt like an angry teenager, struggling to rebel from his parent's decisions of his roommate. However, on the outside, he came to terms with himself and realized that once he's made enough money, he could move out and but his own little studio apartment. But how would he do that without a job. Hell, he wont be able to get a job unless he knew the language. All he knew were the basics. Hello, Goodbye, Do You Speak English, things like that. Maybe he could learn it somehow.   
        At that moment he remembered his father saying, "You do know that the best way to learn a language is to be in the country of the language, you know," Matthew could remember Francis flipping his hair out of his face and looking over to Arthur. "Isn't that right? I learned English by staying with your father over in England for a while. And now we're married."  
        "What a bother," he heard his second father say.  
        And yet, Matthew could feel no change in his new found language of German. It may have only been his first day in the city of Berlin. Nevertheless, it felt like a century.  
        Matthew sighed again and knocked on the wooden door. Not too impressive of a place, he thought to himself. The door was painted a light shade of purple, but it looked aged and you would see part of the dark brown color it used to be. The stairs he waled up were a bit creaky, but at least they were metal. He seemed to be on the third or fourth floor, and all he could hear was the beeping of cars and the rush of the crowd.  
        Dammit, Matthew thought. It's the first day and he was already home sick. Maybe not for his family, but for the quiet. His house, being tucked into the woods, was a nice and quiet place. The only sounds you would hear were the birds chirping or a few animals scurrying on their way to whatever that certain animal does.  
        " _Kommen Sie herein_ ," yelled someone from the other side of the door. It wasn't female, at least what Matthew could tell so far. The voice sounded a bit scratchy as well. Maybe he was sick?  
        Matthew opened the door to see a pale young man with blue shorts and black tank-top on. Pajamas? Matthew thought to himself. But it's only eight p.m. As he continued to observe the German, he noticed that he wasn't just pale. He had bright, bright blonde hair and a certain color of eyes that Matthew couldn't quite explain. The had a tint of red in them was all that he could easily point out. The man had a nice form, to say the least. A bit of muscle, but not to the point where you can see the other's veins.  
        " _Hallo... Mein Name ist... Mein Name..,_ " Matthew was having trouble with his words. He shook his head. Why was he fine in class, but now that he's in Germany, all he could remember was 'Excuse Me' or 'Hello'?  
        "You must be Francis's kid," the man said with a heavy accent.  
        Matthew's head perked up at the sound of English. "Oh, yeah, I am. And you are?"  
        "The name's Gilbert Beilschmidt," he reached out his hand for Matthew to shake it. "I guess I'm your new roommate, huh?"  
        "I guess so," Matthew took his hand. It was warm, and a bit tough. He guessed it was from lifting weights.  
        "Alright!" Gilbert said, sounding a bit too exited. "Let me give you a tour of the house." He reached behind Matthew and closed the door. "Now you see that?" Gilbert pointed to the kitchen, which was connected to the living room, where they entrance was. "That's the kitchen. And over there," he pointed to a small hallway that led to three rooms. "That's the rooms and the bathroom. Any questions?"  
        Matthew stood there, dumbfounded. That's it? I mean, he was fine with small houses, but this! This was five living spaces in one tiny room, basically. Okay, three rooms have doors, but that's because they were bedrooms and a bathroom! "No," Matthew lied.  
        "Great. I'll be taking these then," he grabbed Matthews bags. "You're room's this one."  
        Gilbert opened the door on the right with his barely free hand and opened it wide for Matthew to get in before he followed. He wont lie, it was an okay room. It distracted him from how small this house really was. It was a plain room with white dry-walls and a medium sized bed in the middle with a blue and gray bed spread. It was held up with a metal looking bed frame that was also gray. There was nothing on the walls besides a small mirror and a picture Matthew was sure was there ever since Gilbert had bought the house. It was clean, at least. There was a standard sized window over looking the city, or at least what you could see from three stories high. Matthew hadn't noticed until now, he wouldn't hear the chaos from inside the house. This room wasn't too bad after all.  
        "I cleaned the place up for ya," Gilbert said with a grin as he set down Matthew's stuff on his new bed.  
        "Thank you," Matthew said back. "You did a good job. Um... Sorry to ask, but where is the restroom?"  
        "Oh yeah," Gilbert looked surprised at himself for forgetting the bathroom. "It's this way," he motioned the other to follow him.  
        Matthew looked down. He's been to a few friends houses when he lived in Canada, and not a lot of them had clean bathrooms. Suddenly the realization came to him that he'd be sharing a bathroom with someone he just met. Oh, fantastic. Matthew said a short prayer that the bathroom wasn't awful.  
        "This door," the pale man opened the middle door.  
        "Oh, wow," Matthew's eye's widened as he looked into the sparkling clean bathroom. It looked as if everything was just polished. They might have been, for all he knows. People usually clean up when guests are coming over. But this was extravagant. The mirror looked as if they were looking through a window to another dimension, the toilet looked new, and it looked like the shower had never been used before.  
        "What?" Gilbert piped, sounding offended.  
        "Oh, no, it's so clean!" Matthew claimed. "It's just- I've never seen a person's bathroom be so clean."  
        Gilbert snickered. "Of course it's clean! An awesome guy like me always knows how to clean up a place."  
        Matthew chuckled. "Well, thanks for cleaning up for me."  
        "Oh, it was already clean."  
        "Oh."  
        Gilbert snickered once again.  
        "So, can you leave now?"  
        Gilbert looked confused, then embarrassed, then self-assuring in a matter of a few seconds. "Yeah, sorry. I'll be in my room. You know, the other door."  
        Matthew nodded and closed the door on his new acquaintance. He wasn't too bad, he thought to himself. I've just got to adapt. At least he knew English, right. Now that he thought about it, Gilbert didn't seem to be as old as his father either. Maybe he wasn't. Well, the only way he could find out was ask, right? Matthew flushed the toilet and washed his hands before walking out of the bathroom. He sauntered over to the German's door and gave a light knock.  
        "Couldn't handle not being around my presence already?" the man said as he opened his door. That through Matthew off a little bit, but he continued nonetheless. Before he had a chance to speak, Gilbert invited him into his room.  
        "Would you like to come in?" Matthew nodded and walked all the way into his room. It was significantly darker, with dark curtains covering the windows. It wasn't any dirtier than the rest of the house, but had some more stuff in it. For example, a laundry basket, a full drawer. That reminded him, he needed to unpack. And get a laundry basket. And ask how much it cost to clean them. Now that he thought about it, he had a lot to do before settling in. But for now he wanted to get to know his roommate. "Do you need something?" Gilbert interrupted his thoughts and gestured him to sit on the bed with him.  
        "Yeah, I was just wondering how much it costs to clean stuff. You know, like washing machines for clothes."  
        "Oh yeah, that's just the same as in America-"  
        "I'm from Canada."  
        Gilbert stopped himself, then continued after a brief pause. "It's exactly the same as they do it in Canada. You put the coins in and there ya go, it's washing."  
        "Thanks, but, I was wondering how much it costs." Another thing that Matthew noticed was that Gilbert was probably more nervous than he was. It was easy to tell when some one was trying to brush off nervousness with chatter and acting as if everything's okay.  
        "Haha, um, well duh. It's 0.44 Euros, so it's 0.50 cents in dollars." Gilbert looked over to Matthew who seemed annoyed and angry. "What?"  
        "I'm from Canada, Gilbert." he said with a sigh.  
        "I know that! I'm just messing with you! It's... um... 0.65 Canadian dollars, so... yeah! Still 0.44 Euros!"  
        Matthew gave him an unamused look.  
        Gilbert rubbed his neck, but kept his smile. "Sorry, Mattie. Can I call you Mattie?"  
        Matthew wasn't allowed time to answer.  
        "This is my first time having someone living with me instead of me living with some one else, so take it easy on me, yeah?"  
        Matthew gave a small sigh and nodded. "Okay, okay."  
        "Aw, that's my Mattie!"  
        Matthew cocked an eyebrow. "'My' Mattie? We've just met."  
        "And now we're friends, right?"  
        Matthew thought he sounded like an elementary kid. But he decided to give him a chance. It's about time for change in his life, he thought. Maybe Gilbert can bring that.  
        "Oh, hey," Matthew caught his attention again as he headed out the door. "How old are you again?"  
        "Eighteen."  
        Matthew looked a little bit shocked. One year older than he was... Wow. And here he was, thinking he was going to be some middle aged man.  
        "Hmm... Good to know. Well, goodnight," Matthew waved goodbye. "Gil."


	2. Chapter 2

        As Matthew woke up the next morning, he had a small pain in his back. Damn bed, he thought. It must be really old. He sighed and looked out the nearby window. It was foggy. The room seemed to be in a grey filled husk. It was peaceful. A bit dull, to be honest, but peaceful.  
        As Matthews thoughts wandered as he lay in his new bed, he began to think of Gilbert's room. What would it look like it the morning sun? His window was covered, but if it wasn't he might be able to tell. He didn't get a good look at the German's bedroom yesterday, in fact. Maybe he should go check it out? No, no, that would be creepy. But maybe Gilbert was asleep, he thought to himself. Maybe he wont even notice what Matthew would do.   
        The blonde sighed and got out of bed, curiosity starting to control him. He cursed himself yet again. Damn curiosity. He strode over to his door and opened it as quietly as he could. He peeked through the small slit he made to see if Gilbert was already awake. He wasn't. Matthew thanked his lucky star and made his way to the other's door, but stopped in front of the bathroom.  
        Okay, he thought, if he wakes up I'll hide in the bathroom. He nodded.  
        He slowly crept to Gilbert's door. He put his hand on the doorknob and stopped himself. What the hell was he doing? This was stupid. Why would he even care what his new acquaintance's room looked like?  
        Matthew shook his head, feeling ashamed of himself. He let the door knob go and began to walk away. At that very moment, he heard the same door knob turn. He froze.  
        "Oh, hey Mattie."  
        Matthew turned around, a bit too fast. "Haha, hey Gilbert!"  
        Gilbert gave him a confused, yet amused look. "So uh... whatchya doin'?"  
        "I'm," he started. Damn it. What was his plan again. "I was going to ask you..." he began to talk slowly. "I was going to-"  
        "Come on, man. I know we met each other yesterday, but you don't have to be so shy," Gilbert said, giving Matthew a soft punch to his shoulder.   
        Matthew chuckled. "Y-yeah. Um, I was going to ask what's for breakfast," he said. 'What's for breakfast'? Matthew thought. Come on, I can do better than that!  
        "Oh yeah, about that," he replied. "I need to go but some groceries. Want to come? I'm leaving after I get dressed."  
        "No thanks, I think I'll stay here and... unpack," he lied. Now was the perfect chance to see Gilbert's room.  
        "Suit yourself," then he walked back into his room and closed the door.  
        Matthew hurried to his room and shut the door as well. "Unpack?" he mumbled to himself. "I don't even need to. And I don't need to see his room either." He sat on his bed and looked at his phone. 9:53.  
        He heard a knock at his door. "Mattie, you sure you don't want to come?"  
        "Um, y-yeah!" he yelled through the door. "I'll stay here."  
        "Okay then, don't set your room on fire," Gilbert joked.  
        Matthew smiled despite the fact that Gilbert couldn't see him. "I wont. Have fun."  
        "Bye!"  
        "See you!"  
        Matthew waited until he heard the door close. He rushed out of his door and looked around. When he saw that nothing was in sight, he rushed over to Gilbert's door. He jiggled the knob to see if he locked it. Thank god he didn't. He opened the door and cautiously walked in. He took another step, leaving the door open if he needed a quick escape. "It's not like he has a pet dinosaur, Matthew," he said to himself.  
         _Chirp._  
        "Holy-! What the-" Matthew jumped at the sound of a small chirp. He turned to see a small yellow bird in a cage. "Oh my god," he walked over and poked at the smooth metal. "Well," he sighed, embarrassed. "at least you're cute." He smiled and continued his search. But what was he looking for, exactly? He already saw his room, he just wanted something else. What was it?  
        Matthew shrugged and looked to Gilbert's drawer. He saw a huge pile of books above it. "Books?" he walked over and picked u a copy of  _Ironhand._ "Wow," he said softly. "He doesn't seem like the kind that reads often."  
        "I read a lot, thank you very much."  
        Shit. Oh no. Matthew's stomach flipped. He started to feel dizzy and dropped the book. Oh god. He moved his eyes to the left, but still couldn't see the man he knew was going to be there. He was too scared to turn around. He was sure his face was bright red. This was why I shouldn't have come in here, he thought to himself. This is why I should have gone with Gilbert! Matthew rubbed the back of his sweaty neck and turned around, ashamed of himself.   
        "Sorry," his voice was quiet.  
        Gilbert gave an amused look. "Nah, it's okay."  
        "What?" Matthew quavered.   
        "I have a couple of friends that sneak into my room all the time! It's not like you're the first one," the German snickered. "Besides, it's not like I have anything to hide. I mean, I was going to show you my bird anyway."  
        Matthew's eyes widened slightly. Here's his chance. He can use that as an excuse. He saw the light of hope. "Yeah, I heard it chirp, so that's why I came in here."  
        "Then why were you looking at my books?" he smirked. He could tell he won this battle.  
        And then he saw that ray of hope crash and fall into a pit of misery. Change the subject, he heard a small voice inside him chant. "W-why are you home already?"  
        "I got breakfast," Gilbert shrugged, still wearing that smug smirk of his.  
        Matthew cleared his throat and rushed to get out of Gilbert's room, he followed. "That was fast."  
        "The store is just a few buildings down," he said. "And I didn't buy everything. I just bought doughnuts," he smiled wider.   
        Matthew looked over to the small counter where he saw a box of different types of doughnuts. He smiled when he saw the brown maple one. "Thanks, but when are we going to get the rest of the food."  
        "After breakfast, and you're coming with me this time," he jested.  
        "Oh, haha," Matthew moved his head from side to side. He grabbed a doughnut and sat down on one of the two stools under the counter.  
        "Ah, by the way," Gilbert took a doughnut. "we have to stop by my brother's house later on."  
        Matthew raised an eyebrow. "Why do I have to come?"  
        "I don't want you sneaking around my room again!" Gilbert joked.  
        Matthew rolled his eyes.  
        "Okay, okay. His boyfriend needs help moving into his house, and he asked me to help him."  
        Matthew looked uncertain. I mean, he didn't really want to help them out. He just moved here, and for all he knows, Gilbert's brother might not even speak English. Yeah, Gilbert couldn't force him to go anywhere. But, at the same time, he wanted to spend more time with him. He needed to get to know him anyway, but... Oh, for Christ's sake, they were living together.  
        "Come on, please! I don't want to be there without a date!"  
        "Woah, what?" Matthew's head snapped towards Gilbert's voice. Date? They met a few days ago! Matthew lowered his voice. "We are not dating."  
        Gilbert burst out laughing, spitting a piece of halfway chewed dough out of his mouth. "You," he said between laughs. "You really thought I was being serious! Oh boy! We've got a lot to work on, kid!"  
        Matthew was so confused. First he seems like a slob, but then you find out he's super clean about everything. And then he's super smart, and then the next minute he's saying some kind of half thought out joke! What a strange man.  
        "I..." Matthew sighed, shaking his head and smiling. "You've got to let me teach you how to talk to people."  
        "Hey! I'm doing just fine! Just jokin' around, that's all," he pouted.  
        Matthew stared at Gilbert's pouting face for a few seconds, noticing just how pale he really was. "Fine, I'll come," he replied. "but I don't know how much help I can be."  
        "Pssh, you'll be fine, Mattie. Besides, you'll do a hell of a lot better than Feliciano."  
        Matthew's ears perked at the foreign name. "Who?"  
        "My brother's boyfriend. He's moving here from Italy."  
        "Ah," Matthew replied as he finished the last bite of his doughnut. "Well then, should we get going?"  
        "You're still in you're pajamas, Matthew."

* * *

 

  
        "Hey, should we get the small bag, or the big bag of cereal?"  
        "You're choice," replied Matthew.  
        After scrambling back to his bedroom to get dressed, he got dressed and the two boys were on their way. Matthew wouldn't like to admit it, but he was a bit embarrassed. He completely forgot the fact that all he was wearing was a thin blue t-shirt and white, fuzzy pants that were covered in red maple leaves. But it was over now, so that's all he had to keep him going.  
        Wow. Second day in Germany and he already embarrassed himself fifty-million times it felt like. One thing he knew for sure that if things were going to continue in this direction, that he would have a hard time with a lot of things.  
        " _Danke,"_ Gilbert said to the cashier as they took their leave. "Let's go take these back to the house."  
        "Okay," Matthew nodded. "So how are we going to get to your brother's house?"  
        "That..." Gilbert drawled. "is a good question."  
        Matthew chuckled. "Maybe we can call a taxi."  
        "Yeah."  
        Matthew smiled and looked around. There were quite a few cars for only 10:30. At least he thought so. There were a few small trees blocking the sidewalk from the street, which he thought looked nice. It was near June, so the trees were in full bloom. Green leaves were towering above him and he couldn't help but feel at home. He looked around more and immediately forgot the feeling of home. He sighed.  
        "What's up?" Gilbert asked, he must have heard him sigh.  
        "Nothing, just a little home-sick."  
        Gilbert gave him a sympathetic smile. "I expected as much. Here, I'll make you a deal."  
        "Yeah?"  
        "If you let me help you learn German, to the point where you're at least a little fluent, I wont kidnap you and keep you here."  
        Matthew pushed Gilbert softly. "Shut up."  
        Gilbert snickered as they started up the stairs.  
        "Seriously, you joke way too much."  
        "That's just one of the awesome things about me!"  
        "Sure, sure."  
        Then the short tune started to play. "Ah, sorry. Go ahead up to the house, I'll catch up."  
        "Okay," Matthew said. "Hurry up though, I don't have a key."  
        Gilbert nodded and answered his phone. " _Hallo?_ "  
        When he got to their floor, Matthew saw a short, dark haired man leaning against the wall next to their door. Neighbor maybe? When the man glanced at him, he waved, only to be ignored by the man looking away. Matthew was a bit disappointed for a second, but soon went back to his own business. I guess he just doesn't want to talk, Matthew assumed. Not that that mattered, he couldn't have a conversation in German anyway.  
        As he walked past the man and towards the purple door, the man gave him a strange look. "Who are you?" he asked.  
        I guess I was wrong, Matthew corrected himself. "I'm-"  
        "Hey Mattie, a few friends of mine are going to come help use with my brother's house," Gilbert shouted as he came up the last few steps. "Oh, Lovino, why are you here."  
        "Just get inside," Lovino muttered.   
        Matthew looked to Gilbert, confused. "This is one of the friends I was talking about."  
        "Heh, I wouldn't say 'friends'," the man replied.  
        Matthew nodded slowly, still not entirely sure what was going on.  
        "So what brings you here, Lovino?" Gilbert asked as he opened the door.  
        "SURPRISE!" A dark-skinned man with brown hair and green eyes jumped up from the coach.   
        "Antonio?"  
        "Hey! How are you? I decided to come in and surprise you, but you weren't home so I waited in here," he chuckled. "Funny, little Lovino here didn't want to come inside. Did he spoil the surprise? I told him not to."  
        "I did not! And don't call me 'little Lovino'."  
        Gilbert laughed.  
        Matthew stood there dumbfounded. He was tempted to just crawl away to his room, but he knew that he probably shouldn't. Who were these people? He figured they were Gilbert's friends, but what kind of friend breaks into the other's house? Is it normal? Maybe they were just really great friends. Yeah, that had to be it.  
        "Anyway, anyway. This is my friend Matthew," Gilbert said. "He moved here from Ameri-"  
        "Canada," Matthew corrected him.  
        "Canada, yeah. He moved here from Canada. He's Francis's kid."  
        "Who?" Lovino asked, but was soon cut off by Antonio.  
        "Francis? That old French guy we used to make fun of all the time?" Antonio said. So that's how they know him, Matthew thought to himself.  
        "Yeah, that one."  
        "Nice to meet you," Matthew stuck out his hand for the other's to shake. Sadly, only Antonio obliged.   
        "Anyway, I'm gonna put these away," Gilbert said holding up a few bags of groceries. "Then we can catch a taxi to Ludwig's house."  
        "No need. I brought my car," Antonio coaxed.   
        "Nice!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! New characters! Woo!


End file.
